Baseball: When is a rookie not really a rookie?

Jose Abreu may not be American League Rookie of the Year at season's end, but he is certainly the league's Rookie of the Month, for what that's worth.

Or is he?

The White Sox first baseman is in his first season in the American League, and that's all I'm willing to concede. Abreu is 27 and last October signed a six-year contract with Chicago worth $68 million. He played his first year of professional baseball in Cuba the same year the Red Sox snapped their World Series drought — 2004.

Abreu is eligible for Rookie of the Year consideration according to the voting rules established by the BaseBall Writers Association of America. So are Xander Bogaerts and Jackie Bradley Jr. of the Red Sox and really, what chance do either of them have going up against Abreu in Rookie of the Year consideration?

That Abreu is off to an impressive start is no surprise. The White Sox would not have committed that much money to some unproven prospect. They would have given an unproven, but potentially great, prospect a nice signing bonus, but not that much of a signing bonus.

Nothing talks louder than money in baseball, and it is saying that Abreu is not really a rookie, and it is saying that the increasing internationalization of the game means the definition of what a rookie truly is should change.

But exactly what is the fascination with rookies anyhow? They don't get bonus points on their average for base hits. A solo homer by a rookie counts for one run, just like for a 10-year veteran. A great rookie season guarantees nothing, and vice versa. Angel Berroa was a Rookie of the Year. Not only were neither Carl Yastrzemski nor Roger Clemens Rookies of the Year in the AL, neither was even Red Sox Rookie of the Year when they debuted in 1961 and 1984, respectively.

Berroa, the Royals' shortstop, was AL Rookie of the Year in 2003, the last time the award was marked by controversy, since it was also the year Hideki Matsui made his AL debut. Two voters — this one included — did not vote for Matsui, and that cost him Rookie of the Year honors.

Ten years have passed,and it seems as though voting sentiment is trending in the direction of considering veteran players from Japan as not exactly rookies. Abreu may be the first real test of how veteran Cuban players are regarded.

Cubans have picked up support in recent ballots but have not won. Yasiel Puig was second in the NL voting last year to Jose Fernandez — born in Cuba, but raised in the United States -— and Jose Iglesias was second in the AL voting to Wil Myers, who only played 88 games for the Rays. Both Puig and Iglesias are young and spent time in the minors.

While Matsui was disappointed he did not win in 2003, when the Red Sox brought Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima (both veterans) over from Japan for the 2007 season, both said they did not think they should be considered rookies.

The National Hockey League was eventually forced to redefine a rookie because of the influx of refugees from the European major leagues after the Soviet Union dissolved. The level of success of Japanese players and Cubans in recent years indicates that while the top leagues in those countries are probably not equivalent to the American and National leagues here, they are likely better than Major League Baseball wants to believe.

Historically, the big leagues in any sport underestimate everybody else. As far back as 1901, the NL dismissed the new AL as inferior, but the Red Sox won the first World Series two years later. The NFL thought the AFL was no match for it, but the AFL won the third Super Bowl.

The World Hockey Association was better than the NHL let on, and the ABA was better than the NBA said it was.

The early Rookie of the Year awards were dominated by players from the Negro Leagues, but those players had been prevented from getting to the majors in a more traditional way by the color line.

For a franchise that has emphasized player development, at least in recent years, the Red Sox have not had a strong Rookie of the Year presence. Since offensive numbers go a long way in awards voting, Bogaerts is a more viable candidate than Bradley at this point. Put the two together in some fashion — Bogaerts' bat and Bradley's glove — and you've got a great player.

They face the incumbent Rookie of the Year, Myers, and the Tampa Bay Rays at 7:10 tonight at Fenway Park. Like so many other Rookies of the Year, Myers is having trouble in his encore season. Unlike Bogaerts and Bradley, he doesn't have to worry about how many votes a 27-year-old like Abreu will get.